– Difficult dust – Maurer, a materials scientist, has served as astronaut advisor for LUNA over the last decade.
To the touch, the simulated Moon dust called EAC-1A is rough as pumice stone — yet also very fine.
Real lunar soil causes even more problems because it is charged with static electricity, which makes it stick to nearby surfaces.
This can be tricky, because first steps on the lunar soil can sometimes sink in ankle-deep, making it similar to climbing a sand dune.
Maurer, a potential candidate for an Artemis spot, said that “stepping on the Moon in Cologne” means that “one foot is already on the Moon”.
The closest thing to walking on the moon without going to space is a sizable, unremarkable warehouse in Cologne, Germany.
According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the facility known as LUNA, which was formally inaugurated on Wednesday, is the most accurate recreation of the lunar surface in existence.
European astronauts will receive training in the special simulator and test equipment that may be used on future lunar missions, possibly as part of NASA’s Artemis program, which will launch humans there in a few years.
From the outside, it appears to be a massive white hangar tucked away in a Cologne suburb within the German Aerospace Center.
However, beneath the ink-black walls and ceiling of the nine-meter (30-foot) high facility is a mannequin of the soil that covers the lunar surface.
Under the glaring light of a single lamp at one end of the 700 square meter space, which is larger than three tennis courts, craters and lumps ripple in and out of darkness.
There are rocks all over the place, and an odd, light grey dust covers everything.
Matthias Maurer, an astronaut with ESA, described moving around in the environment while donning a space suit.
At a recent facility tour, Maurer told journalists that it can be challenging to find your way around “when you’re entering the black area and you have the sunlight in front of you.”.
“Is this an abyss or is this just a shallow pit?”.
Challenging dust.
Over the past ten years, Maurer, a materials scientist, has advised LUNA’s astronauts.
“No one else in the world, not even NASA, has such a comprehensive integration of diverse elements as this facility,” he said.
The thick layer of dust that covers the Moon’s surface, known as lunar regolith, is created and produced by the ESA specifically for LUNA, amounting to 900 tonnes.
The artificial moon dust known as EAC-1A is both extremely fine and as rough to the touch as pumice stone.
Breathing becomes hazardous due to this combination, which can also lead to equipment issues.
Maurer stated that the dust rises and “keeps on floating” when trodden on.
Because real lunar soil is charged with static electricity and sticks to adjacent surfaces, it creates even more issues.
Over 50 years ago, astronauts on NASA’s Apollo missions worried about the integrity of their spacesuits after just a few lunar walks due to this issue.
This fine dust on the Moon is the result of asteroids hitting it time and time again.
However according to Juergen Schlutz, the project manager for LUNA at the ESA, the simulated regolith is “a basaltic volcanic material that is ground and sieved to our needs and then mixed.”.
Twenty tons of regolith from Greenland, which will be used in the “dust laboratory,” a hermetically sealed area inside LUNA for testing apparatus, is still awaiting delivery, according to the engineers.
Soon, a mobile artificial sun will also call the facility home, transforming the landscape with shifting shadows.
The complex harness system that astronauts will use to feel the bouncy gravity on the Moon—which is about 17% of Earth’s gravity—will be managed from the top of the facility.
A three-meter freeze-thick layer will also be possible on LUNA’s floor.
Maurer clarified that this would enable astronauts to practice drilling into the frozen lunar surface to find water ice.
“Live on the Moon and work.”.
Astronauts’ ability to navigate 50-degree slopes will be tested in one corner using a tilting panel.
This can be challenging because it can occasionally be ankle-deep when taking your first steps on lunar soil, similar to climbing a sand dune.
“And you enter FLEXHab after an exhausting eight hours of walking on the moon,” Maurer remarked.
In less than a week, LUNA will be linked to the Future Lunar Exploration Habitat (FLEXHab), which can accommodate four astronauts.
To prevent soil from the moon from entering their residence, the astronauts will utilize an impenetrable seal.
Additionally, LUNA, a closed-loop greenhouse that has demonstrated the ability to produce vegetables over a five-year period in Antarctica, will be connected to the facility.
Schlutz stated that “understand how to live and work on the Moon” should be achievable as a result of this ecosystem as a whole.
Additionally, positions for European astronauts on NASA’s Artemis program—which aims to bring humans back to the Moon later this decade—are also anticipated to be secured with its assistance.
As for “stepping on the Moon in Cologne,” that signifies that “one foot is already on the Moon,” according to Maurer, a possible Artemis contender.
